Unreal Engine 4 demoed on video

Sneak peek at what next-gen console games could look like

Shares

Epic Games has lifted the lid off Unreal Engine 4, the latest version of its game engine software that's behind many big name video games including Mass Effect 3, Batman: Arkham City and even Infinity Blade on iOS.

In the first of two videos released (below), Epic Games' senior technical artist Alan Willard takes viewers through some of the features of Unreal Engine 4.

Willard points out some of Unreal Engine 4's new skills such as realtime dynamic global illumination, glossy specular reflection, subsurface scattering and other graphical wizardry that you won't have heard of but can't fail to wow you.

Here's one we didn't make earlier

The really impressive thing is that everything in the first video is real time – not a pre-rendered cut scene – so it gives a real taste of the in-game graphical experience available.

The second (shorter) video throws the whole lot together in a fully rendered scene to give you a taste of what could be in store for the next generation of console and PC games.

We're looking forward to seeing Unreal Engine 4 in action in a game and it makes us feel just a little bit closer to the Xbox 720 and PS4.